Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 6 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

THE WITCHES’ ATTACK

  Weddin (Time remaining: fifteen hours, twenty-two minutes)

They were dashing through the night at intense speed in a destructive game of tag when four more magical girls appeared from inside the factory, interrupting them.

Now there were nine of them in total, some glaring at each other, others smiling foolishly in front of the abandoned factory that had gone bust after the economic bubble burst. The deteriorated landscape, filled with broken streetlamps, crushed asphalt, and twisted fences, clashed with the beautifully decorated girls.

Weddin shivered when she saw the four who’d appeared out of that hole. They were decisively different from the magical girls they had seen thus far. When that ninja had nailed her down, Weddin had trembled, fearing she was in for a painful experience. When Bunny Ears had chased her around, she’d felt despondent just thinking about what might be done to her if she were caught, and her yelling at Tepsekemei had been an attempt to alleviate such feelings, even just a bit.

Both of those magical girls had been very scary. Weddin was no match for either, and even Tepsekemei and Kuru-Kuru Hime, who were stronger than her, couldn’t beat either of the two one-on-one.

Seeing the four girls now emerging, Weddin realized her mistake. Her fear of Bunny Ears and the ninja had just been her own cowardice. She’d been needlessly frightened of enemies whom she’d fundamentally had no reason to fear. Bunny Ears and the ninja were firmly within the fantastical realm that encompassed magical girls. There was no raw violence to them.

These four were different. They carried nothing but the air of raw violence. Just standing here in front of them made Weddin want to slump down on the spot—or, barring that, grovel at their feet.

She resisted the urge to collapse. No matter how she tried to force it down, fear rampaged inside her, ready to burst out if it just had the chance. With the utmost effort, she calmed her feelings, put a lid on it all, and looked over at Bunny Ears. Her face had gone stiff—it wasn’t the way you’d look at reinforcements.

“I recommend doing your utmost to avoid resisting. You don’t want to get hurt, do you?” the fortune-teller told them. It seemed she wasn’t Bunny Ears’s ally. The enemy of her enemy was also an enemy. The situation was complicated. But being that things weren’t simple, there might be something Weddin could do here.

“No more games, asshole!” With that juvenile taunt, Grace sliced at the enemy, and the fencer responded leisurely, blocking her attack. The pirate’s boorish cutlass and the fencer’s magnificent rapier slammed straight into each other, the sound of clashing metal echoing through the narrow back road.

Grace pushed at her cutlass and tried to kick her opponent in the stomach, but the fencer slipped away, and the strike missed her body. Grace ripped the twisted chain-link fence out of the ground and threw that, too, but the fencer sliced it into bits with her rapier. Grace’s attacks still kept coming. She kicked off the wall of the building to get herself going, then turned back to kick through the cement-block barrier and showered her opponent with rubble. The fencer hopped onto a block of rubble as it flew through the air, then casually landed on the ground. The chunks of cement the fencer had dodged shot through the wall of the building like bullets, destroying it.

Weddin was about to go help Grace, but then she stopped herself. She could barely even keep track of how fast Grace was moving, and her enemy was trading blows with her cheerily at a speed no lesser. Any attempt by Weddin to join in the fray would bring about further danger. She should avoid intervening thoughtlessly. Weddin began to ponder what she should do—what move she should make.

Her allies didn’t move—or no, they couldn’t move, could they? Funny Trick was trembling, all the color drained from her face. Tepsekemei’s eyes were quite a bit calmer in comparison, the same old vacant expression as she focused her gaze on the remaining enemies. Their enemies were smiling, or smirking, as they watched the fight. They weren’t worried. Bunny Ears turned tail and ran.

The fortune-teller whispered something to the fencer, who nodded coolly.

The musician and fortune-teller jumped over Weddin and the others together, kicking off the building in a wall-jump to chase after Bunny Ears.

If Weddin was going to fight, now was the time. But even with the enemy’s numbers cut in half, Weddin still didn’t feel she and her friends could win. They shouldn’t try to win by fighting, in which case, Grace was getting in the way. Thoughts switching dizzyingly fast, in the end, Weddin yelled, “Leave me behind! Get out of here!”

Weddin had made everyone agree to listen to their leader’s orders if the time came. Even if they hadn’t been serious when they’d made that promise, Weddin’s magic would not allow them to default on that contract.

Grace hopped up atop the building, still brandishing her cutlass at the enemy. Funny Trick leaped away, too; Tepsekemei shot Weddin a brief look, but as she couldn’t disobey the order, she floated up into the sky.

The last of the enemies—the one covered in patches, stationed at the factory entrance—nodded to the fencer, then rushed up to the top of the building. The fencer didn’t follow but instead approached Weddin. Having seen the fencer cross swords with Grace, Weddin knew she was no match for this opponent.

Her head was swimming. She had to concentrate, or she couldn’t breathe. It was hard to get ahold of herself. Transforming into a magical girl boosted her resistance to the cold, but a chill was running down her spine all the same. She felt she might freeze. A puff of white steam appeared when she exhaled a deep breath before slowly dissipating.

The clash between Grace and the fencer had been one of life-and-death, an excuse for Weddin to think she hadn’t interfered because they’d moved too quickly. There was no reason any rational human being would have interfered with that tangle of beasts seeking to rip each other’s throats out.

Calm down, she told herself. Bunny Ears had lured two of their opponents away, so they’d managed to split the enemies up. And since patchwork girl was chasing after three of them solo, at the very least, two of them would be able to escape—while sacrificing one. But Weddin wasn’t thinking about this in a sentimental fashion. Her judgments were based on calculation. They were running away from enemies they couldn’t beat, so even two out of three being saved was a good deal.

And besides, she had to fight one-on-one. The candles on her costume made fizzling sounds as they burned.

Don’t be timid. Be bold. I’m the leader. I’m not gonna lose.

The fencer was approaching, a broad smile on her face. She was refined and aristocratic but also looked like death itself. What would happen if Weddin died? Was there an afterlife? Could it be classified into heaven and hell? And if she died, was that the end? Once you lost your life, was it just eternal nothingness, with no consciousness?

The fear of death welled up in her stomach. She clenched her jaw and held back her feelings.

Weddin—Mine Musubiya—was egocentric in all respects. She based all her decisions on calculations of profit and loss. When she’d made all the others escape, she’d done it with the overall benefits and drawbacks in mind. Since she knew she was too slow to run anyway, she figured it’d be more beneficial to decisively remain than to flee. Her choice to remain had not at all been a generous one, based on self-sacrifice.

She had a chance at winning. Facing the fencer, Weddin raised both her hands. She forced her stiffening face to soften and smiled, as her opponent did. “I’ve lost. I surrender. I’ll fight no more. Please, spare my life.”

The fencer looked like she didn’t quite understand. Weddin then recalled that her opponent spoke a foreign language… She’d talked so fast, it’d been hard to catch, but she most likely spoke English. So Weddin corrected herself: “I surrender.”

Ten feet away, the fencer stopped in her tracks. She flicked the feather decoration on her head with a fingertip, the corners of her mouth turning up. Was she smiling? She seemed wary, too.

Weddin remained tense despite having declared her surrender. She hadn’t put her hands up because she’d sincerely given in. In fact, she felt the battle was just beginning.

Direct conflict and competitions of physical strength, like the sort Grace engaged in, were not the only ways to fight. Deliberately being captured by the enemy was another. Weddin’s powers forced people to keep their promises. The number of promises was unlimited, and even if she broke the promise herself, the other person would still be obligated to keep theirs.

Once captured, she would probably be questioned. Weddin felt uneasy about conversing in English, but she’d be fine if there was someone to translate for her. She would draw out the questioning just a little bit, then drag things out as best she could (without getting to the point of torture) and try to create more opportunities for conversation. Bit by bit, she would gather promises from them—it didn’t matter how trivial they were. Weddin would win if the enemy assumed verbal promises were meaningless. She’d work from the inside, dragging things out slowly, bit by bit by bit…

The fencer came within half a step of Weddin and brandished her sword twice before sheathing it.

“Is that so? An admirable attitude.” A moment ago, Weddin hadn’t been able to catch what the fencer was saying, but now, she could understand it clearly. It wasn’t Japanese. She was still speaking in English.

Weddin didn’t question this, accepting it as if it were natural. She bowed her head. “Thank you very much. I’m grateful for your generous treatment.”

“By the way…” The fencer smiled properly this time. She didn’t look even the least bit cautious. “Though it may not appear so, our occupation is that of an inspector. As one might expect, many liars have come before us.” Still unguarded, she calmly approached Weddin and put her hand on her shoulder. “We have encountered such folk over the course of many, many years, you see. And so we’ve come to understand people, somewhat, simply by looking at their faces. When one is bound to do evil in the future, or lies to us, or attempts to deceive us, or is plotting something, it’s all so apparent in their countenance.”

She gripped Weddin’s shoulders with the kind of closeness of an old friend and pulled her rapier four inches from its sheath to show her the blade. “I use this sword on such imprudent folk. This sword is magic. Those cut by it are struck by misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yes, misunderstanding. Just the smallest, slightest misunderstanding. For example, the misunderstanding that a foe one should be fighting is, in fact, the master one must protect with one’s life. They would not simply become our attendant. They would do anything in our service. Oh-ho, don’t you think of it as brainwashing. When we cut someone, their reality changes. Therefore, even one with whom ’twas impossible to communicate is now able to enjoy amicable conversation with us.”

She slipped her sword back in its sheath with a snap. “Now then, work yet remains… What’s your name?”

“I’m Weddin.”

“A good name. So then be of aid to us.”

Pukin dashed off, with Weddin following cheerfully behind. Weddin had admired Pukin for ten years. She’d always obeyed any order from Pukin, and following her was always the right choice. She had no regrets in betraying her allies for Pukin. Pukin came first, over everything.

  Captain Grace (Time remaining: fifteen hours, fifteen minutes)

Grace was irritated at her body for running away against her will but also privately relieved that she’d managed to escape—and that feeling made her blood boil. She crossed over buildings and roofs, running, jumping, racing through pitch-black alleyways, but she could still feel the enemy behind her, never leaving.

This may have been the first time in Grace’s life that she’d hesitated in a fight. Umi Shibahara never wavered in the heat of battle. It was always clear to her what to do. Be it punching, kicking, or grappling into a throw, all she needed was to maintain the will to fight and enact violence as her body commanded it.

She’d always scoffed at the average Joe who’d freeze up whenever petty gangsters picked fights with them. If you can win, you should fight. If you can’t, then you should run. It was stupid to let them rob you without doing either.

When the four magical girls had appeared, it wasn’t that Grace had been unable to move. She’d just hesitated.

The four girls who had broken through the factory entrance to appear before them were strong. The one with the guitar on her back and the one with the crystal ball were so strong, they might have been on par with Bunny Ears and the ninja. The one with the sword and the patchwork girl were even stronger. Even though they were glaring at each other on equal footing, Grace felt as if she was being looked down on.

The situation was bad. Grace could try to fight, caught between these girls and Bunny Ears, but what about the others? Tepsekemei could escape into the air, but if the enemy went for Funny Trick and Weddin, Grace sensed she’d have her hands too full to defend them.

These thoughts felt like excuses and angered her. Grace slashed with her sword in an attempt to shake off her weakness.

Her plan was to slay the first enemy in one strike, but it had easily been evaded. Her opponent’s thin sword looked like it could be bent with the slightest smack, but it was startlingly flexible as it blocked her swing. The fencer and the other three foes who were watching the two battle had all grinned in amusement.

They’d been making light of Grace. The simmering in her mind passed the boiling point. Right as Grace abandoned trying to defend herself and was about to strike out with all her might, Weddin gave the order to retreat.

Weddin’s magic forced her to flee when she didn’t want to. It was maddening, but it enabled her to cool her head a bit. At the very least, she could pretend she’d regained her calm.

One of the enemy magical girls was chasing her—not the one with the sword but the patchwork one. Her eyes were shining in anticipation as she followed about thirty feet behind.

Weddin had ordered the girls to leave her behind and run, so she must have remained there. There would be at least one enemy there with her. Bunny Ears had fled prior to Weddin’s command, and Grace had noticed the crystal ball girl and guitar girl following after her. If you did the math, that meant none of the enemies were chasing Funny Trick.

Her guess that Funny Trick was escaping without anyone in tow calmed Grace, taking some pressure off. It seemed her partner’s life was safe, for the time being.

Kayo Nemura had received top marks in the first grade, but that wasn’t why Umi had approached her. Umi had used a trick she’d learned from anime—she’d searched for people with similar tastes by looking at the borrowing history on their library cards. In this case, Kayo shared her interests. She’d caught a sidelong glance at Kayo reading The Robber Hotzenplotz in the library at lunchtime, turning pages with an intent look on her face as if she herself were in the middle of an adventure. When Umi poked Kayo’s cheek with her pointer finger, she was so focused on the book that she didn’t seem to notice at all. Kayo’s cheek was soft.

Umi took a liking to her. Ever since then, she’d started proactively developing their connection. Umi was good at ignoring all rules or manners to invade people’s personal spaces.

Kayo and Umi had traversed the whole island of Honshu during summer vacation in fourth grade.

In fifth grade, when Umi had beat up the teacher of the karate dojo she’d joined, Kayo had been with her, too.

And when Umi had gotten into a spat with the motorcycle gang Love-Life in their first year of middle school, Kayo had been by her side then, too.

Kayo’s job was to soothe and chide Umi when she tried to barrel on ahead and push on forward. Even when Umi’s rational mind was telling her it was best to pull back for the time being, her emotions would move her feet of their own accord. That was the way she was. If she’d been on her own, she would have gone on raging and rampaging forever. She felt having Kayo there as her strategist enabled her to be her strongest. But that was embarrassing, so she didn’t say it out loud.

That was when Grace sensed something. There wasn’t just the enemy pressing in on her from behind—someone else was running alongside her, too. A new enemy? she thought and looked over to see it was a familiar magical girl running with her. Captain Grace kept herself from swearing aloud. It was Funny Trick. Funny Trick put equal distance between herself, Grace, and the enemy, drawing a triangle between the three of them.

It wasn’t like she had to be attached to Grace at the hip, so what was Funny Trick thinking, following her? They outnumbered the enemy, so if they’d have just run in different directions, then at the very least, one or two of them could have managed to escape safely. Does she get that these new enemies are crazy strong? Grace thought indignantly as she ran, but still, she was a little glad Funny Trick had followed her, and the corners of her lips curved into a smile. She couldn’t bring herself to believe the reason Funny Trick wanted to fight was because she couldn’t tell the enemies were powerful. She had to give her partner credit for that.

As Grace ran atop the roof, she stomped her feet to crack the tiles off, then raked the broken tiles with her toes and tossed them backward. The enemy ignored the shards flying at her, hot on her heels and not slowing even a hair. She didn’t seem to be injured or even flinching.

Grace was disappointed that the tiles were completely ineffective. But it seemed taking offensive action by tossing tiles backward was possible, and just checking that she could do that was meaningful on its own. Weddin’s magic was forcing Grace to flee, but she possessed a degree of discretion on just how she would do so.

She tried slowing down. Slackening her legs’ pace just a bit made the distance between her and the enemy shrink. It seemed she wasn’t compelled to run as fast as she could. She fastened some rope from her pirate ship onto her hook. She’d have liked to tie a marine- or sailor-style knot on it, but unfortunately, she didn’t know much about knots. So she just tied it tight, figuring it was okay as long as it held for now.

Grace jumped off the roof and tossed the rope and hook out to catch on the bridge of an overpass, swinging over to stand on top of it. The enemy still followed her—but unlike Grace, she lacked any tools. So Grace won herself some distance, even if it was only a few yards.

Because of the time of day, there were no cars going by on the overpass. Now, she could do this.

The enemy coming after Grace clambered up to the overpass, but then things started flying at her from the air above, booming with impact as they made contact with the asphalt in succession. Grace looked up into the sky. Tepsekemei was attacking while she flew away from the enemy.

It seemed the others also intended to attack as they ran away. Grace laughed out loud in delight. She saw Funny Trick coming after the enemy up to the top of the overpass.

More air bullets flew, followed by blasting sounds and the pattering of concrete raining down.

As Grace fled, she turned to look behind herself. Of course, she slowed a bit, and the enemy got closer. The magical girl wearing the patch-covered costume was smiling gleefully. She was just like a predator opening its mouth the moment before it killed its prey, rejoicing that she was about to sink her teeth into it.

Like hell I’ll let you, Grace thought, spreading her hands and pushing them out palm-first in front of her.

She wasn’t at a safe enough distance, but she was prepared to take a certain amount of damage. Captain Grace summoned her pirate ship right before her and her enemy’s eyes.

It appeared suddenly, completely ignoring the law of conservation of matter to crush the rushing foe. The force of it blew Grace back from where she stood and shattered the road surface.

As Grace was blasted back and rolled away, she whooped in joy. The enemy hadn’t been able to dodge it. She’d felt that.

Funny Trick slowed down, and Tepsekemei gradually descended. The enemy was gone now. There was no more need to run.

“All right, now—,” Grace started to say but was interrupted. A blob of black haze leaped out from the bow of the ship, cutting through the dust.

Though Grace’s ship was wooden, it was still a magic ship. It could race across water at subsonic speeds, with durability surpassing the laws of physics enabling it to resist the air and water. It was not so poorly built that it would easily break from a few hits by a magical girl.

A mouth like a great, merciless abyss opened up within the pirate ship, Captain Grace’s pride and joy. An erosion like a creeping black stain ate into the boat as the enemy leaped forward at a pace just as fast as when she’d started her sprint. As she rushed past, she bumped against Tepsekemei’s shoulder, and the part she touched turned to black haze before scattering and vanishing. Tepsekemei’s usual vacant visage crumbled, and with an incredulous look in her eyes, she stared at the empty space where that part of her body should have been.

The patch-covered magical girl closed the gap between her and Grace in a single bound, reaching out to her. Grace blocked that hand with her dagger, but she didn’t even feel like the dagger connected with anything as it was scraped away by the mist, and as the girl stroked Grace’s face, her vision went entirely black.

Grace couldn’t see. She had only ever fought blinded a handful of times—and this time, her opponent was crazy strong, even more powerful than Bunny Ears and the black sphere.

What an adventure! When the tales of Grace’s exploits were written down one day, this would have to be the climax. She would have to get her partner, Funny Trick, to look over it for her as her chronicler. The role of chronicler was a rather bland one, but following her like she did, it was something of an obligation for her.

She really doesn’t know how to roll with the punches.

That was exactly why Grace had to protect her.

As she imagined their shining future, Captain Grace’s consciousness plunged deep into darkness.

  Pythie Frederica (Time remaining: fifteen hours, fifteen minutes)

Bunny Ears had frighteningly fast legs. It was the most Tot Pop and Frederica could do to keep up with her.

A magical girl’s physical appearance made her nature laughably obvious. This factor was not something to be underestimated. If a girl had wings, that meant she could fly with them; if she had a long tail, she could grab things with it; and if she carried weapons, she was able to wield them. Aside from such straightforward characteristics, it was not uncommon for their overall motif to symbolize their nature.

In other words, a magical girl with a rabbit motif would probably be faster than those with a fortune-teller or musician as their motifs. There was a reason why rabbit’s feet were said to help you escape from trouble. The girl was putting both her hands and feet on the ground like an actual rabbit, and she was gradually pulling away from them.

“This doesn’t look good, master,” said Tot Pop to Frederica. “She might get away.”

“If she escapes us now, we’re bound to be branded as useless.”

“That’d suck.”

“I’d prefer to avoid that, too. Let’s do our best, as master and student, and show them we can be useful.” Frederica searched her memories. Rabbit ears and a kimono. She seemed to recall such a girl in the Inspection Department named Hana Gekokujou. Of all the people within this barrier, this was the one magical girl she could say for certain was a member of the inspection team, which would make her a valuable hostage. Sonia and Pukin weren’t suited to nonlethal capture missions, so Frederica couldn’t allow them to give chase, which was why she’d decided to take Tot Pop to chase Hana down with her—but Hana was hopelessly faster than them.

“Miss Gekokujou!” Frederica called out. The rabbit’s long ears twitched. It was good that she reacted. It was basically proof that this was Hana Gekokujou and also indicated she was fairly honest by nature.

Frederica informed Tot Pop of the rabbit’s identity. It was best to share information. “Hana Gekokujou. Her magic is to sharpen senses. She’ll manipulate your senses if you get too close to her. Be careful.”

“Nice one, master. You always know everything about magical girls. A real enthusiast.”

“She’s a member of the Inspection Department and is responsible for exposing internal crimes. She uses her ability to sharpen senses to scout for enemies, but even more than that, she’s also skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Do not be deceived by her appearance and believe that a direct fight with her is one you can win.”

“Yeah, yeah. Roger.”

Frederica continued to dig up even more knowledge on Hana Gekokujou. “Miss Gekokujou! Is Mana doing well?”

Long ears swaying left and right, Hana’s upper body rose gradually until she came to a halt and turned around. Frederica stopped, too, holding her right arm out to keep Tot Pop back. She looked at Hana, an amicable smile plastered across her face. Hana looked suspicious.

Frederica quickly confirmed their positions. They were about thirty feet away from each other, standing in a narrow lane with a drainage ditch running along one side. She could also see a culvert nearby flowing somewhere unknown. It would be difficult to chase Hana down if she were to escape there. Hana must have stopped because she’d calculated this. She was a tough enemy.

“We’ve come from outside the barrier to support you. With quite the amount of enemies around here, you must be having some difficulty, aren’t you?”

“You can’t trick me.” Hana’s response was cutting.

“Trick you? What do you mean?”

“You were just talking about me, weren’t you? I’ve got good ears, so I heard everything.”

“…How amazing.”

“But even if I hadn’t heard you, I wouldn’t be fooled by someone as notorious as yourself. Any inspector who doesn’t know the name and face of Pythie Frederica is unqualified.”

“Oh… Well, well… Oh, dear.” Frederica cracked a bashful smile. She’d hoped that perhaps Hana would return the favor, but the rabbit’s expression remained stiff. Though her posture seemed relaxed, with her arms hanging at her sides, you could tell just by looking that she was ready to dash off immediately. Her guard was flawless. She really was tough.

“So then why have you stopped to listen to me?”

“How do you know Mana is our team chief? You were imprisoned before she was appointed.”

Frederica had poked around here and there, at top secret documents and meeting reports. She’d figured that if she came up with people who seemed like they would later be installed in the Inspection Department and named them one after another, she’d find something eventually. She’d only hit bingo on her first guess because the personnel choices in the Inspection Department were proceeding as planned.

Anything would have been fine, as long as it achieved her goal of stopping Hana.

“Mana and I have something of a relationship.” Frederica acted very much as if she were now going to tell Hana what was going on, but as she spoke, as part of a seemingly natural gesture, she put her left hand into her crystal ball and pulled it out again.

“What…?”

But before Hana’s doubt could be resolved, Frederica threw the three hand grenades in her hand. The pins were already removed. They sailed over Hana’s head, rolling behind her, and simultaneously, Tot Pop strummed her guitar. Music notes of varying sizes assailed Hana in a cacophonous torrent.

The grenades exploded ahead of Hana, sending fragments of concrete flying in all directions. Frederica’s hair flew up from the blast’s impact. She braced her legs firmly and thrust her left hand into the crystal ball once more.

The hair wrapped around her right index finger was a strand she’d received from the subordinate of Tot Pop’s with the most beautiful hair. Reflected in her crystal ball was the subordinate’s location: the interior of a weapons warehouse. With Frederica’s magic, she could pull out whatever weapon she liked, as needed. Even a magical girl would not go unharmed if she were hit by one of the Magical Kingdom’s weapons.

Hana couldn’t escape them. If she kept going to where the grenades lay, she would either be seriously wounded or killed.

She couldn’t rush straight at them, either. The moment Frederica had thrown the grenades, Tot Pop strummed her guitar, sending her physically manifested music notes flowing out. Even a seemingly decorative weapon like music notes was bound to injure her even more than the grenades, if she were to take a direct hit.

So Hana chose the third option. With the wind of the blast at her back, she leaped, kicking off a cement-block wall, then off an electrical pole, attempting to run not forward or back but up.

But that was the choice Frederica wanted her to pick.

She’d anticipated how Hana would try to escape. Immediately, she changed her crystal ball’s channel. Tot Pop’s hair was wrapped around her left middle finger, and reflected in her ball was the space occupied by Tot Pop, Frederica, and Hana. Frederica thrust her left hand into the crystal ball to manifest it in Hana’s path.

She grabbed Hana’s ankle in midair and yanked on it, making her lose her balance and fall to the ground. Hana spun three times in the air, but Tot Pop’s second assault of music notes flooded into the spot where she landed.

The torrent of music notes battered her defenseless back, and Tot Pop ground away on the strings, the eighth notes hitting the concrete wall becoming quarter notes and bouncing to assault Hana’s body from every direction. Tot Pop’s music notes continued to thrash Hana until Frederica stopped her, saying, “That’s enough.” The final music note fell on the road with a thud, melting away to vanish. Frederica patted Tot Pop’s head as if to say, “Good girl.”

“What a marvelous student you are. I didn’t even have to give you a signal for you to know what I wanted.”

“Well, I am your number one student, master. I can tell what you’re thinking,” Tot Pop said with a cheerful grin.

Tot Pop stood with her guitar still at the ready as Frederica approached where Hana was curled up. Frederica kicked the side of her stomach with a toe to roll her over onto her back. Hana lay with both arms wrapped around her body, seemingly unconscious. The fact that she remained transformed, despite having passed out, brought Frederica’s opinion of her up a few notches.

Frederica grabbed Hana by the neck and tossed her into her crystal ball.

  Archfiend Pam (Time remaining: fourteen hours, fifty-three minutes)

All that remained before the abandoned factory was the battle’s aftermath. There was nobody there: no enemies, no allies.

Archfiend Pam bit her thumb. She’d been constantly behind, ever since the attack on the apartment building.

The Arabian dancing girl had wobbled along through the air, coming to ask Pam for help. Without any wariness or anxiety, she’d come before Archfiend Pam, who had been walking through the town with the two girls, searching for enemies or allies. The dancer remained calm and unbothered despite Pam being on her guard.

Pam remembered this opponent. This was the one she’d fought in the sky earlier, the one who had escaped. The Arabian-style dancing girl ignored Archfiend Pam and the questions she attempted to press her with, simply facing Postarie and Rain Pow to say, “They’re chasing Weddin. Come help her.” And when Pam grabbed her shoulder in an “enough of this” manner to make her turn around, she’d disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Pam checked with Rain Pow and Postarie that the magical girl who’d just visited them was their ally. In the end, they had no choice but to try going off in the direction the Arabian dancing girl had come from.

Since Archfiend Pam was using two of her four wings as coats for Postarie and Rain Pow and one for her own coat, she only had one remaining wing to use to search for enemies. Making do with just one wing was proving extremely difficult.

But still, she couldn’t abandon the two girls, either. She needed to meet up with her allies and get 7753 or Mana to take care of them, but since their magical phones were useless right now, locating them would be rather tricky.

There were traces of unnatural damage at the factory entrance. This was no uncomplicated act of destruction, like punching, melting, or burning. It was akin to corrosion or oxidation yet subtly different.

“Can any of your allies use magic like this?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Does ‘I don’t know’ mean you don’t want to talk about it?”

“N-no! I really don’t know!”

Pam didn’t have to bother using truth serum. The girl didn’t seem to be lying.

Pam shaved off a trace of the destruction, rubbing it with her fingertip, and it crumbled away. It was clearly something magical, probably the result of extremely strong abilities. This might be too much to handle even for someone like Hana or Ripple, who were both practiced in combat.

This was just like what had happened with the apartment building. Pam could tell there was something going on, but she didn’t know what. And what’s more, she had two tagalongs she didn’t know what to do about.

Rain Pow still seemed cheerful—if you punched her down, she’d get right back up—but Postarie was mentally exhausted. There was nothing for it but to take breaks to rest as they pushed forward.

Archfiend Pam happened to glance behind her and saw Rain Pow and Postarie whispering to each other, so she slapped them across their cheeks. It would’ve been so much easier if she just could have left them here.

  Toko (Time remaining: fourteen hours, thirty-two minutes)

I’m part of Rain Pow’s body, she told herself silently, staying still. Everything would come crashing down if her presence were to be noticed. Fortunately, it seemed Postarie wasn’t telling Pam that Toko was hiding there.

Toko had heard the name Archfiend Pam before. It was one that always came up when anyone discussed who the strongest magical girl was. There were whispers that Archfiend’s magic could cause destruction on an immense scale, and to Toko, that seemed at the very least unnecessary for a mission involving the search and capture of a criminal. It was like if a cop asked for help and a tank showed up.

Shit. They’re totally planning to kill us.

Toko had considered the possibility of the Department of Diplomacy sending in a powerful magical girl. She knew the two of them were a thorn in the department’s side, and the department had the power to erase those who got in their way. But she hadn’t anticipated that the department would be willing to deploy personnel who would also cause harm to regular civilians. She’d underestimated them.

With these thoughts in mind, Toko had been feeling on edge, but something here seemed quite strange. It looked like Pam was trying to avoid harming the general public. It also seemed as if she was trying to protect Postarie and Rain Pow. She showed slight caution toward the two girls but wasn’t treating them like enemies or prisoners. It was proof enough that she hadn’t searched or disarmed them.

In that case, this was a weakness they could take advantage of.

Toko was particularly skilled at taking advantage of people’s virtues or ethics. Her partner shared that skill set since she’d taught them what she knew. She would play the victim, pretend to be just a citizen, act like a good person, and in the end, stab them in the back. There couldn’t be more than one magical girl of Archfiend Pam’s level dispatched here. If they took out Pam, then Toko’s ally, the one who meowed at the ends of their sentences, would get them out of here.

Archfiend Pam was one of the most exceptionally powerful magical girls Toko had ever seen—not just in the scale of her destruction but also mentally.

They had to take out this indomitable foe. If anyone was capable of pulling that off, it was Toko’s partner. They were more cunning, underhanded, unfair, calculating, and mean than even Toko herself. She was sure to snatch her chance to take advantage of Archfiend Pam’s weakness.

  Pythie Frederica (Time remaining: fourteen hours, twenty-one minutes)

The wind carried the police sirens to them. The apartment building had to be pretty far from the ruined town factory, but magical girls had far sharper senses than humans.

Frederica closed the window and drew the curtains, then turned back to the room.

Everything in the fridge that was edible was now deposited in Pukin’s and Sonia’s stomachs. Pukin was washing down some bread with a bottle of barley tea, while Sonia poured an upturned bag of candy straight into her mouth.

Tot Pop was working in the kitchen. Frederica had entrusted all the food that needed cooking to her. This situation felt like the setup for a joke: making a Brit cook a meal. It was a little funny. Recalling that their diners were also Brits, though, it made sense.

Tot Pop had smacked her chest as she took the task upon herself, saying, “I haven’t lived alone this long for nothing!” But this seemed a bit sad to Frederica. As her master, she hoped Tot Pop could find a good partner.

From the state of the apartment, the food, and the furniture and such, Frederica could determine the resident’s lifestyle, social position, and class. He was a middle-aged man with a higher-than-average income who lived alone, had a moderate degree of fun, and overall had seemed to live comfortably. Since he was now lying in the shadow of the sofa, all she could see of him were his ankles and the blood flowing from his body. He’d been a scrupulous cleaner, had enough food on hand, and was properly organized, too. Quite praiseworthy for a bachelor. Frederica put her hands together in thanks.

Then there were the other three. She’d left the stage magician girl lying on the floor. The girl in the wedding dress was beside Pukin, a soft look on her face as she happily watched Pukin eat. The other one was farther away, tossed alone into a corner of the room. Tot Pop had knocked her around pretty badly, so her face was swollen, and she had a few broken bones. The light of determination that remained in her eyes only made her look even more pitiful.

Funny Trick and Hana were both bound with rope. This rope, brought out from the weapons storehouse, was strong enough that even a magical girl couldn’t tear it easily.

“I don’t enjoy pain, so no torture, please. Please tell me if there’s anything you want to know. I’ll answer anything. It’s not as if the Magical Kingdom or my superiors have done enough for me that I feel indebted to them. And I’m not even paid that much, considering how they work me to the bone.” Hana babbled along as if she was even willing to tell them things they hadn’t asked. Her cheeks were swollen and some of her teeth had to be broken, but she still spoke clearly and made herself easy to understand. Frederica translated every single word, in full, for Pukin, and Pukin wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood from her seat.

“You should avoid approaching her too closely, General,” said Frederica. “Her magic will activate, even if you don’t touch her.”

“We are aware… You, rabbit.” With her left hand, Pukin drew her dagger, pointing it at Hana from ten feet back. “You have quite the amount of strength in your eyes for someone who claims to lack any loyalties to the Magical Kingdom or even her superiors. Yours are not the dull, muddied, and rotten-sick eyes of an apathetic bureaucrat. They are the beautiful, sparkling eyes of a proper magical girl. We like them not.”

Frederica translated Pukin’s words to Hana, who replied, “Maybe my eyes look that way from the eyelid glue.”

Upon hearing Frederica’s translation, Pukin’s eyebrows came together in a slight scowl.

Frederica was also aware that Hana would never cooperate. Her magical phone’s in-box had been empty, and when they’d asked if her group had agreed to some sort of meetup spot for emergencies, she’d insisted they had no such thing.

“If I know something, I’ll tell you. But I can’t answer if I don’t know. Right? That’s just obvious. I can teach you how to do good eyelid glue, though.”

When Frederica translated Hana’s response, Pukin swung her left hand wordlessly, throwing her dagger to stick into the wall, where it quivered. The rabbit’s right ear, which had been between the wall and Pukin, was cut down to about half its length, and a muffled scream escaped from Hana’s throat.

Frederica grimaced, saying, “Oh, that looks like it hurts,” and the magician girl gave a tiny yelp.

“I told you… I hate pain…”

“You mocked us just now, did you not? We never overlook such affronts.”

“Owww… It huuurts…”

Now Pukin drew her rapier with her right hand and threw it as she had her dagger. Frederica reached out to grab the rapier by its handle, stopping the blade an inch before Hana’s chest.

“Your Excellency, don’t you think it’s too soon to eliminate a source of information?”

“That one is a staunch professional. She may put on an admirable act of spilling it all to us, but I doubt she has any such intention. ’Twould be inconvenient and dangerous to attempt to make her squeal while being forced to always maintain ten feet of distance from her. Instead, one ought to make an example of her in order to facilitate gathering intel from others. A talented torturer needn’t fuss over how many sources of information one has.”

“Oh, I see. Forgive my impertinence. However, even if she can’t be a source of information for us, I think she may make a good hostage. I’ve heard that there’s a certain camaraderie among the Inspection Department’s employees.”

“Hmph. So be it. Then I shall leave her treatment in your hands.”

Frederica approached Pukin slowly and handed over her rapier with reverence, then spun to the right to face Hana, giving her a look warning her not to anger Pukin. Hana made a sarcastic smile and gave a slight nod.

It was clear that even without Pukin’s short temper, Hana would be a difficult hostage to deal with. Pukin couldn’t enter that ten-foot radius to mind-control her, which meant the better choice would be to knock her out like before. But Hana was now gravely injured; at this point, it would be difficult to hold back and just incapacitate her without dealing a fatal blow. Tot Pop’s music notes were not suited to restraint.

They’d tried to force information out of Hana using Weddin’s magic, but it hadn’t gone well, as Hana had only ever spoken to her evasively and vaguely. Hana would also have seen that Weddin had been antagonistic to Frederica’s party before, so it would seem odd to expressly make Hana speak only to Weddin. Hana would have had no way to know about Weddin’s magic, but she’d figured out that much. Pukin was not wrong to take Hana for a staunch professional.

Frederica’s eyes wandered back to the remaining girls. The stage magician’s teeth were chattering as she trembled violently. Weddin had already told them all they needed to know from her end. Now that she was Pukin’s devotee, she told them everything, even things they hadn’t asked.

Thanks to her, they had found out that Toko had turned a bunch of middle schoolers into magical girls. Weddin had written down each of their physical abilities and even their real human names in her notebook, saying that as the leader, she had to understand all their members. She had informed them that even their teacher and the turtle kept as a pet in the science room had been transformed as well, a fact that Frederica found deeply intriguing.

Even more intriguing was the ninja who had attacked Weddin. This girl had been hostile, so Weddin hadn’t been able to acquire her personal information. But she knew what the ninja girl had looked like. She was one-armed and one-eyed, with a ninja motif, and Weddin said she had thrown kunai and shuriken with enough control to thread the eye of a needle, at the rapid-fire pace of a machine gun. Weddin told them about how the ninja had nailed her down to the roof of the apartment building by her costume, pinning her there.

As far as Frederica knew, there could only be one magical girl that fit that description. It was the closest friend of Frederica’s final student, Snow White: the magical girl Ripple. Finding out that Ripple was within this barrier made delight shoot down Frederica’s spine. The thought that perhaps it wasn’t just Ripple, and maybe Snow White was with her, made her crumple in joy on the spot, falling to her knees.

Fate was a mysterious thing. Between magical girls, its effects were even more striking. “Don’t you think?” asked Frederica.

“Uh-huh…”

Was Weddin’s noise of agreement so limp because she was a newbie who knew nothing of the subtleties of magical-girl life or because she was under Pukin’s control?

Weddin said that Sonia had killed the pirate captain, Grace, and Tepsekemei the lamp genie had lost half her body and fled up into the sky. Her survival was probably not purely due to her vitality. Had she compensated for her missing parts by assimilating herself with the wind? Or was it that being made of wind meant losing parts wouldn’t be fatal for her? Whatever the case, she seemed quite a bit tougher than the remaining magical girls.

Was the assassin among the girls from the middle school Weddin had told them about? Or were they just victims?

“Be that as it may…” Pukin swished her rapier. Dots of blood scattered over the azure sofa. “It seems we’ve largely completed our mission.”

“What do you mean?” Frederica asked.

“Have we not already secured the villain you meant to capture? In other words, well…”

Frederica gave the stage magician a sidelong glance. Funny Trick’s whole body was trembling, and she was curled up as tight as she could, great beads of sweat covering her skin. She looked so terrified, Frederica felt sorry for her. “You mean she’s the assassin we’ve been looking for?”

“We are proud to say we have served as inspector for many a year. We have an eye for people.”

“I see. I could call that a fairly sound basis for judgment.”

“You recall there was that pirate girl.”

“Yes, I recall.” She must have been referring to the girl who had died in such a cruel manner that Frederica would never see again, the one whose cheek Sonia had stroked.

“And the conjurer over there.” Pukin sheathed her rapier and, careful not to step in any blood, walked over to the wall to pull her dagger out, returning it to its sheath as well. “Sonia captured her when she flung herself upon the fallen pirate girl.”

Sonia looked up and snorted proudly, then immediately returned to her meal.

“Isn’t that so?”

“Aye.”

“We saw distinctly with our own eyes when Sonia dragged that girl to us—when her own ally had just been killed and she herself was in dire straits, the faint light of glee shone deep in her eyes. Most would not feel joy at their ally’s death. If she is indeed the villain in question, then she is the sort of fool who would fear not even God. She may not see her allies as allies and be glad of their deaths. We cannot comprehend such sensibilities, but some villains are of such abnormal nature. We know from experience.”

“Okeydoke! Sorry for the wait.” The air grew thicker with the faint wafting smell of cooking meat, visiting them with a billow of steam. Tot Pop was wearing an apron with a music-note pattern, her hands holding a large plate covered with ham, boned rib, steak, and miscellaneous meats of all sorts cooked up in a pile. It smelled good, but the presentation was sloppy. Frederica felt this meal was a symbol of Tot Pop’s personality, in a way.

Tot Pop arranged soy sauce, wasabi paste, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, shichimi, Worcestershire sauce, yakiniku sauce, salad dressing, and other various sauces on the table. “Pick whatever ones you like. All right, Tot’s gonna go make extra.”

On her way back, Tot Pop noticed Hana had one ear cut off and was quietly startled, saying, “Whoa!” But she didn’t question it and instead returned to the kitchen.

“Calm down and eat, Sonia. Dead flesh shan’t run away.”

“Yes’m.”

They resumed their meal in silence, Sonia with her bare hands and Pukin wielding a knife and fork most elegantly. This seemed to not just be an intake of energy for them. They were enjoying the meal, too.

Frederica turned back to the magician girl. “I would like to ask one thing.”

The stage magician was still trembling. Frederica clapped her hands loudly, and the girl’s eyes turned to her. “What sort of relationship did you have with the pirate?” Frederica asked her in Japanese so she would understand. She examined Funny Trick closely. Her eyes were swimming all around. She had to be frightened by this situation already, since she was kidnapped, and the other hostage’s ear had been cut off, too—but Frederica felt that question in itself had shaken her.

“According to Her Excellency the General over there, you were glad of the pirate girl’s death.”

Funny Trick’s eyes opened so wide it looked like they might fall out of her head. She must have forgotten she was tied up with rope, as she twisted and flailed on the floor. “No! No! I wasn’t!”

“But Her Excellency said she was certain of it.”

“No! I…! I…!” The girl’s eyes were pointed at Frederica but weren’t looking at her. She seemed to be peering within herself, as if sifting through the depths of her being in search of her own heart. “I… I… I… I…”

Frederica watched her silently. This girl wasn’t worked up because she’d been falsely accused of something, nor because her connection with the pirate had been sullied. This was the reaction of someone with a truth they didn’t want to have hit on forced upon them. Upon reexamining herself, speculating about herself, she didn’t like the answer she had derived, and now she was throwing a tantrum about it.

“I… I… I…!!”

“Silence.” Pukin threw the large plate at the stage magician. It hit her in the face, shattered, and fell to the carpet. The girl collapsed on top of the broken plate.

“Don’t scream to us in a nonsense tongue. We are dining now. Be quiet a moment.”

“So is she not the criminal, then, Your Excellency?”

Pukin had just thrown a plate at her, so she wasn’t dead… But, well, even if it was just a plate, depending on where it hit, it could have been dangerous. Pukin had indeed thrown it with the intent to kill. And Frederica had already told Pukin that she wanted to capture the criminal, not kill them.

“No, she is not. Seeing her reaction has changed our mind. Do you know the saying, ‘A wise man changes his mind, a fool, never’? With each new change, we adapt our evaluation based on that new information. She was abnormal to begin with. One of that little group is a simple, noncriminal, abnormal individual. Indeed the most confounding thing, don’t you think?”

No matter how Pukin screwed things up, she would always use plausible excuses to make it as if she wasn’t wrong. If Frederica were to let her have her way, she would kill every suspect they had.

Funny Trick was still shaking, collapsed facedown on the carpet. Frederica couldn’t tell from looking at her what she was thinking.

“What say you, Frederica?”

“The notion that our target may be among those who escaped us is reasonable.”

Hana Gekokujou was a talented inspector within the Magical Kingdom’s Inspection Department and highly competent in both investigation and combat. The only reason she could possibly have come to this town would be to expose the criminal. And her target had to be the same as Frederica’s party’s: the assassin. Of course, she wouldn’t be the assassin herself.

It wasn’t Funny Trick, either. There may have been some estrangement or conflict in her personal relationship with the pirate, but that wasn’t enough basis to call her the criminal. And nothing about her manner when she’d been captured had suggested she was acting. Besides, the idea of a cold-blooded, vicious killer captured while clinging to a dead body was absurd in the first place. That wouldn’t happen.

Frederica couldn’t say anything about Captain Grace. She’d only seen her corpse after Sonia had killed her. It seemed she’d been a good fighter, but did she really fit as the assassin? Weddin had told them of her personality and informed them that Grace had occupied an attention-getting position as one of the most famous people at school, and this did not seem assassin-like to Frederica.

“Mmm. We share your opinion. The villain is among those who escaped. And in order to capture her, we need information. Therefore, we must search for tools with which to draw information from her.”

“Toko, huh?”

“Indeed.”

“If you were to wield your sword for us, Your Excellency, we could not only make her speak but gain another ally, as well.” Those cut by Pukin’s sword would be compelled into misunderstanding. If made to misunderstand she was their ally, they could get information about their target from her.

Sonia and Pukin both reached out for the last piece of meat at the same time before stopping. When Sonia timidly pulled her hand back, Pukin sliced the piece of meat in two and placed one half on Sonia’s plate.

“We were paid to torture humans, as we were for interrogating magical girls. The Magical Kingdom compensated me for my skills in coin. However. This was not the case for familiars. Ever we heard talk of a fairy familiar that needed questioning, we would rush there immediately, saying, we need no coin! We’ll wrest information from them for free! So grant us the honor!” Pukin placed the half piece of meat atop her tongue and chewed it slowly, then swallowed, meat juices dribbling from the corners of her mouth as she grinned. As a magical girl, Frederica had seen many similar smiles; it was the sadistic grin of a girl drunk on violence.

“Nothing is more amusing than the torture of a fairy. They scream with such pretty voices—not to mention there is fun to be had afterward, as well. We shan’t allow even the benefactor who saved us from prison to steal that pleasure from us.”

“Why would I possibly steal such a thing from Your Excellency?”

“You think we can get it done with most quickly using our magic, don’t you?”

“Oh no, not at all.”

“Even our magic is not all-powerful. We can only use it on one person at a time. If we use our blade on a new target, the previous spell will be undone.” As Pukin spoke, she stroked the jaw of the wedding dress girl who served at her side. The girl hummed in delight and leaned against Pukin. She’d been an enemy only thirty minutes ago but was now being made to serve as a member of Pukin’s harem. She and Sonia glared at each other whenever their eyes happened to meet.

It seemed prioritizing Pukin’s pleasure would be time-consuming.

Would it be faster just to kill all the suspects in B City? But what the antiestablishment factions wanted was the assassin’s capture, not her death. Though Frederica had no noble desire to serve the antiestablishment factions to the end, if she were to just start by slaughtering everyone present, they would assume she had no intention of fulfilling their request. She needed a degree of freedom in order to control Pukin, but taking that freedom too far would turn into a rampage. It all depended on how Frederica steered this.

If it all seemed to be just too much trouble, it might be best to ignore the interests of the antiestablishment factions and have Pukin go wild, then escape in the chaos. In that case, it would also be best to arrange the appearance of her own death.

“Okaaaay! Sorry for the wait!” Tot Pop brought in more food: This time, it was fried fish and salad. The salad was a primitive one, just vegetables chopped up carelessly and served. Sonia grabbed it in her hands, while Pukin put two dried mackerel pike on her plate.

The poor fuel economy of this pair was one of their idiosyncrasies. In order to leverage that idiosyncrasy, a certain amount of labor was necessary. Frederica went into the kitchen and said to Tot Pop, “Let’s make some boxed lunches. It would be no laughing matter if the two of them became immobile from hunger right when the enemy was in front of us.”

“Would sandwiches work?”

“I was thinking rice balls.”

“Oh, there’s lots of rice here, so that’d be good, too. Maybe the sort that don’t use seaweed, since people either love it or hate it. Oh, and no pickled plums in them, either… That’s also specific to certain preferences and not so simple to make.”

When it came to boxed lunches, people had their own individual tastes, as with just about anything. Getting what you wanted was never easy.